Conference organizers at Virginia Tech proudly present the Virginia Dares Cinematic Arts Award and Conference for Decolonizing/Re-Indigenizing Media. This community-building event will occur as succinct virtual sessions on November 13 and 14.

This online conference will be free and open to the public. For complete information, visit the website.

The Conference Name

  • This project grew out of an idea for a short film seeking to re-envision the legend of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in “the New World” (c. 1588). After workshopping the idea, we saw there are many better stories that can be told about the meeting of American Indian, African and European cultures—multiple Virginia Dares.

  • This conference also dares to interrogate the problematic colonial-era narratives of Virginia’s first European settlements. It dares to upend embedded systems of marginalization and colonization within our disciplines. Through it, we seek to advance decolonial, anti-colonial, and re-indigenous dialogue, pedagogy, scholarship, and creativity. 
     

Conference Goals:

  • Develop a network of stakeholders committed to anti-colonial inquiry, equitable making, critical Indigenous imaginary, and the development of media and pedagogy
  • Uplift research, discourse, practices, and perspectives that champion media equity
  • Showcase outstanding media works through the inaugural Virginia Dares Cinematic Arts Award for Decolonizing/Re-indigenizing Media.
  • Position Virginia Tech and its Center for Humanities as a megaphone for anti-colonial work.
  • Ultimately, we hope this conference facilitates in its audiences and participants a sense of connection, community, and responsibility to the past, present, and future of all our relations.